Rewinding from the previous article on Hitomi Nishiyama’s Echo from 2024, and connecting the dots (re: Dot, 2023), relistening to Hitomi Nishiyama Trio’s I’m Missing You from 2004 provides a fascinating reflection. I’m Missing You is the prolific composer’s first album, which quickly sold out as she was gaining recognition for her distinctive jazz piano compositional style, a novel approach that melded her Japanese classical musical training, studies in jazz piano, and her affection for European modern jazz. The original 2004 album contained eight songs, all composed by Nishiyama, and was re-released in 2007 with three bonus tracks from around the same period. It came to be regarded as her breakthrough first trio recording, released 20 years before her latest CD Echo, and with more than two dozen albums released in between. ...

Echo, from 2024, is pianist/composer Hitomi Nishiyama’s latest album and a response to her previous release Dot from 2023. The music on this album was made with the same group and during the same recording sessions and as such, there are many similarities in sound and direction. In aura and conceptually, however, the differences are effectively portrayed by the separate covers and designs: Where Dot shows a monochrome sketch-like grid of hand-drawn dots, Echo places the pianists’ subtly Mona Lisa smile into a vividly abstract gauze of lilac and cobalt swirls and hues. ...

Sunny Side is a neighborhood jazz joint in Takadanobaba, Tokyo, and is a place that feels comfortably familiar whether it’s your first time, tenth time, or returning to visit after a years-long absence. At Sunny Side, jazz performances are delivered in a friendly atmosphere with home-cooked food that includes pasta dishes, fried foods, salads, and Japanese taco rice. Figure 1: Arcou duo with Mayumi Sano (cello) and Sayaka Kishi (piano) at Sunny Side in 2017 ...

Unity is the sixth album from trumpeter Hikari Ichihara and the second album from the Hikari Ichihara Group band name, following their excellent debut release Move On from 2010. Unity, released in 2011, features nine original songs and a playtime of fifty-six minutes. The music on this album is straight-ahead jazz built on the familiar format of trumpet-sax-piano-bass-drums hard-bop quintets. The playing style has a modern jazz feel with a mix of swing beats and straight-eights that is rooted in an energetic, soulful style, the kind that fans of Jazz Messengers and similar classic Blue Note era albums will find immediately appealing. ...

The Goat on a Peak is a 2023 album from Ghost Peak, a band formed in 2022 by guitarist Shinji Miyazaki with Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Taeko Kurita on piano, and Hiroaki Mizutani on bass. Guitarist and leader Miyazaki combines his background of modern jazz, improvisation, and a four-year stay in New York, with his jazz, rock, and avant-garde influences on his second Ghost Peak album. Ghost Peak’s The Goat on a Peak contains five of Miyazaki’s original compositions and was released on the heels of their first release Ghost Peak 1. The audio for these two albums was recorded at a live concert in Kobe in 2023. While the first release was an online-only streaming/digital download, this second album was released as a compact disc with a different set of songs. ...

Enyana is the first collaboration album from vocalist Emiko Voice and pianist Yuka Yanagihara. Their new group and album name, Enyana, merges the EMI of Emiko and YANA of Yanagihara. There is also a bit of wordplay on the Japanese phrase en ga aru /(縁がある) which can mean there’s a connection or linking of fates between people or things in a certain situation. One variation of the phrase is “/enyana!/” (縁やな! /or えにゃな!), a playful Kansai-dialect version with a meaning like “It must be fate!” ...

Strings is a friendly jazz bar in Kichijoji, a popular neighborhood just east of Tokyo’s main center known for its beautiful park, shopping, dining, and rich cultural lifestyle. Kichijoji, besides being an attractive neighborhood in its own right, also hosts the popular and well-known jazz club Sometime, a frequent destination for new and old jazz fans alike. Yet Strings, located a bit off the beaten path, offers its own style and charm for jazz lovers. ...

Encounter is the first album from co-leaders pianist Hideaki Hori and saxophonist Wataru Hamasaki, released in 2008. Since then, in addition to their other bands and activities, the two jazz musicians have continued to perform together and release many albums under the group name Encounter. This first Encounter album is bursting with energy, and it feels like the inspiration that each player gets from the others irresistibly drives them to reach for the stars. The four members of Encounter—Wataru Hamasaki on sax and flute, Hideaki Hori on piano, Hiroshi Takase on bass, and Junji Hirose on drums—are always busy touring and playing in this regular group lineup for their live shows. In addition, as a special guest on their first album, Satoshi Takino plays electric guitar on three tracks. ...

It was a surprise when Ami Fukui released even more new songs and arrangements with her trio on her release MCY (2023) so soon after her previous trio album Nova Manhã (2022). It does fit well, though, when considering the two albums as a set, as if they were a double album released in two parts. In fact, the songs for both albums were recorded during the same two-day recording session in November 2011. It was an opportune time, as the trio had plenty of live experience together, along with a nice batch of Fukui’s original songs to work with. ...